Monthly Archives: January 2013

Kauai, Hawaii

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Still cold here in Calgary so how about some more beach pictures from Kauai!

I went snorkelling in Kauai and it was great. Now that I’ve been quite a few times I’m comfortable with the fish. I never thought that would happen but now I would go snorkelling at every opportunity! The trick with snorkelling is once you are in the water DON’T PLAY WITH YOUR MASK! Once you adjust it, it’s hard to get the that seal right again.

The beach was beautiful and there were surfers further down the beach. It was a small group and I only got kicked by a flipper once. Also after we went to a different beach to see sea turtles! Which are very hard to get pictures of in the surf, I thought I had one but now it’s like playing where’s Waldo with the pictures. I think there is a turtle here somewhere……… When I find the turtle I’ll post the picture!

Surfer Sign
Kauai Beach
Kauai Beach 2 Kauai Beach 3 Kauai Beach 5
Kauai Beach 4 Kauai Beach Waves 1 Kauai Beach Waves 3 Kauai Beach Waves 2

Warming Up With Thoughts Of Maui!

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I’m taking a brief step back to Maui!

Today it was minus thirty. MINUS F*&KING THIRTY, why do I live here? Also I took every opportunity this morning to miss the busses I needed to get to an appointment, bus drivers seemed to be in “I don’t see you freezing girl running for the bus” mode. I normally have harsher words for the bus drivers who I KNOW saw me but passed me by anyway but my appointment was with Rita and I am feeling calm and forgiving (if it happens again tomorrow I will throw rocks at the bus).

On the upside a friend announced that she is heading to Hawaii later this year and so I got to think about Maui again to warm myself up!

What to do in Maui? Yes definitely find Maui Lavender, get some skincare and also a brownie! It has also been a long time since you were last in Hawaii and I’m sad to say I saw no Hawaiian Kids colouring books, postcards or the pencil crayons with all the different leads (she knows what I’m talking about). I can tell you where to get the best lipstick/gloss EVER though!

So how should you spend your time? Go shopping at those crazy little places that line the beaches, what you will do with a sarong in Calgary I don’t know:

Sarong Shopping

Catch up on the weather in Maui:

Maui Weather

Check out the store hours:

Surfboard Business Hours

Wander through some beautiful gardens and appreciate the plants and statues (I’ve already mentioned flowers this week):

Plant Maui

Elephant Maui

Statue

Already mentioned ice cream in a previous post so after you get some head to the beach and hang loose:

Hang loose sand

Last but not least TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!!

(Also we need to get together for dinner because I have a recipe for Muhammara for you!)

Rainbow Falls Hilo

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Our next stop on the cruise was Hilo. It was rainy but still warm out.

Mom and I headed out to Rainbow Falls, they are beautiful. Remembering to be patient and wait for Mom was easier in the beautiful surroundings. We were getting along really well and it turned out to be one of the best days we had. Even though it was raining. The tour allowed us plenty of time at the falls to wander around and take pictures before taking us to Volcano National Park.

Here are the falls:

Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls 2

Rainbow Falls 3

Lavender Farm

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Cycling down Haleakala we stopped about half way at a lavender farm, for a break and to grab a snack or coffee. The brownies and the coffee were SO GOOD!

I have no picture, I ate the brownie way too fast.

IMG_3822

The lavender was not at a very exciting stage of growth:

Lavender Hawaii

The products however were reasonably priced and smelled so nice. I love the smell of lavender. The skin cream was about $18.00 which for an anti-aging cream is not bad and the hand cream was even cheaper. I love little pots of promises, creams and lotions that smell great. Left alone and unsupervised in a skin care store I can blow a stupid amount of money.

I’ve been using their lotion since I got home and it’s really nice. If I found myself back there I would definitely pick up some more!

Here is their website Maui Lavender

Coffee Macadamia Nut Ice Cream!

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Wandering around one gets hungry and I found a wonderful little place to stop and relax for a bit.

Kopi Lani Cafe

Coffee or ice-cream?  I love both so I went for the coffee, macadamia nut ice-cream:

Coffee Macadamia Ice cream

It was SO good, creamy, coffee and bits of I think macadamia nut brittle. I almost went back for seconds. Also this was the beautiful view of the Ship from the little table I sat at. Ice-cream, sunshine and a great view, life doesn’t get much better.

Beautiful View Maui

Riding Down Haleakala!

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My first excursion from the cruise ship was a ride down Haleakala!

Haleakala Bikes

I was really excited about. Two friends that I work with have ridden UP Haleakala. Months of training and hard work, one raced up and one took a more leisurely pace. Both loved the experience.

Also Canadian cyclist Ryder Hesjedal has the unofficial record for riding up Haleakala in 2009 with a time of 2:32 beating Jonathan Vaughters official time of 2:38 in 1993, very impressive! Yay Ryder! (He was also the first Canadian to win a grand tour, the Giro last year). Jonathan is the manager of Team Garmin Sharp, who Ryder rides for. They have a very strict no doping policy so Ryder will NOT be making any confessions in the future.

Haleakala Road

Anyway I was excited to see this for myself and although I was riding down I couldn’t help thinking that one day I would like to come back and try riding up. It is beautiful and there was minimal traffic when we were there. The ride up would be worth it for the ride back down! For riding down you just need to be able to ride a bike, it’s really fun and easy. Coasting down, watching the beautiful scenery go by, when it was over I would have been really happy to go back up and do it again!